---
type: "Bill"
title: "Allow Absentee Ballots/Fire District Election."
description: "Allow Absentee Ballots/Fire District Election."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nc"
legislature: "North Carolina General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "HB 18"
citation: "North Carolina HB 18 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ELECTIONS", "EMERGENCY SERVICES", "FIREFIGHTERS & FIREFIGHTING", "LOCAL GOVERNMENT", "PRESENTED", "PUBLIC", "RATIFIED", "CHAPTERED", "FIRE DISTRICTS", "BALLOTS & BALLOT ISSUES"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Howard"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 27
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2019-02-04"
last_action: "2019-07-19"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f5320f6b-721e-4ad1-9817-b8e3c9f44b68"
source_url: "http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2019&BillID=H18&votesToView=all"
source_hash: "0bd0131fb2e126893deabb0776d7dd10af368e6c8737487f002c715fe601220c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-nc"]
---

# North Carolina HB 18 (2019) — Allow Absentee Ballots/Fire District Election.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Filed** (filed) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H18v0.pdf)
2. **Edition 1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H18v1.pdf)
3. **Ratified** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H18v2.pdf)
4. **SL 2019-136** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H18v3.pdf)

## Votes

- Second Reading — **117–0** (pass) · lower
- Second Reading — **49–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Howard — primary (person)
- Sasser — cosponsor (person)
- Setzer — cosponsor (person)
- Wray — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-07-19** Ch. SL 2019-136 `became-law`
- **2019-07-19** Signed by Gov. 7/19/2019 `executive-signature`
- **2019-07-10** Pres. To Gov. 7/10/2019 `executive-receipt`
- **2019-07-09** Ratified
- **2019-07-08** Ordered Enrolled
- **2019-07-08** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-07-08** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2019-07-02** Placed On Cal For 07/08/2019
- **2019-07-02** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-07-01** Re-ref Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2019-07-01** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-06-14** Re-ref to Redistricting and Elections. If fav, re-ref to Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2019-06-14** Withdrawn From Com
- **2019-03-21** Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-21** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2019-03-21** Regular Message Received From House
- **2019-03-21** Regular Message Sent To Senate
- **2019-03-20** Passed 3rd Reading `passage, reading-3`
- **2019-03-20** Passed 2nd Reading `reading-2`
- **2019-03-18** Placed On Cal For 03/20/2019
- **2019-03-18** Cal Pursuant Rule 36(b)
- **2019-03-18** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-13** Re-ref Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-13** Reptd Fav `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-02-05** Ref to the Com on Elections and Ethics Law, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-05** Passed 1st Reading `reading-1`
- **2019-02-04** Filed `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f5320f6b-721e-4ad1-9817-b8e3c9f44b68`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Carolina legislature records).